Some want Israel to use Lanka-style brutality against Hamas – ignoring the strategy’s true costs

As Israel’s war on Hamas grinds into its 20th month, comparisons with Sri Lanka’s 2009 military defeat of the Tamil Tigers have grown louder. For some, Sri Lanka represents a rare example of a state achieving total military victory over a powerful insurgent group.

Among those advancing this approach is Israeli security expert Moshe Elad, who told The Jerusalem Post last month that Sri Lanka demonstrated how “terror groups can…be completely defeated through military means”.

“Sri Lanka did it without a Supreme Court or B’Tselem,” Elad remarked, referring to the absence of legal considerations or scrutiny by human rights groups.

Other security experts have also drawn parallels between the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam and Hamas.

The subtext is clear: Israel should consider following the Sri Lankan model, mounting a campaign of overwhelming force to annihilate Hamas.

This argument misses the fact that Sri Lanka’s victory came at the cost of immense civilian suffering, long-term instability and international legitimacy. If Israel borrows this script, it may not just replicate Sri Lanka’s battlefield gains, it may also inherit its political and moral collapse.

The Sri Lankan government’s war against the LTTE was among the most brutal counterinsurgency campaigns of the past century. Between 2006 and 2009, the Sri Lankan military launched coordinated offensives across...

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